Why have talks in the Montreal Symphony musicians’ strike stopped? “An MSO spokesperson told The Gazette yesterday negotiations were suspended for the month of August because the mediator was on vacation. Musicians’ association president Marc Beliveau concurred. Yet a press release from MSO management, dated Thursday, quotes the chief negotiator for management as saying, “Given the gulf separating the two sides, we fully understand why the mediator saw no need to schedule any new negotiating sessions.”